Fraser vs Nationwide Insurance - Use of Work Groups to Facilitate the Achievement of Firms' Goals - Case Study Example

FRASER V. NATIONWIDE INSURANCE COMPANY Introduction Significantly, Richard Fraser worked as a sovereign mediator for the Nationwide Insurance Company; however, in due time, the company terminated his role. The core issue in the case was that the plaintiff (Richard) drafted a letter to a company stating that he might stop working at the insurance company because of the organizational policies (John 2015). On knowing about the letter, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company went through the defendant’s e-mail and found out that Richard was communicating with a rival insurance company. Consequently, Richard lost his job and he filed a lawsuit over the company’s actions. However, the court’s approach on the case was very surprising because the court gave the insurance company comprehensive verdict on all reckonings. According to the court, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company had not gone against any HR laws and policies by reading through Fraser’s e-mails since the civic decrees were only against the act of intercepting and accessing such information in the course of communication, but in this case, these were Fraser’s stored e-mails. However, Richard Fraser was entirely against this notion because as a reference from the constitution, the company never met the required state of action. Moreover, he lacked an unlawful emancipation prerogative because he was an independent employee at the company and by choice making the civic rule exemption inapplicable (Morgan 2014). Accordingly, Richard Fraser had no separate motive for going against the contract of good faith and dealing; however, the covenant a valid and enforceable clause on forfeiture for competition. Relatively, the court’s conclusion was that most of the civic rules in question offer protection for electronic communications leading to a final verdict favoring the insurance company. Therefore, Fraser had already received the e-mail and stored it in the company’s computers; moreover, these laws did not address accessing stored e-mails after transmission, only during transmission. This summary judgment gave the nationwide company the green light and the acquirement of Richard Fraser’s e-mail was legal especially because it was after its transmission and already in storage (Alex 2013). There are no laws that protect employees e-mail privacy while they are in the storage of the company’s computers. However, the court added that the insurance company’s action was indeed ethically questionable especially since it led to Richard Fraser’s contract cancellation. The court questioned the ethics of the board behind the review of the contract and the decisions leading to its cancellation. In fact, under civic law, the action has no legal basis that prompts such outcomes hence making it unethical. Typically, questioning of the companies ethics is a mere interpretation of the action being prejudicial and they invaded Fraser’s privacy in the workplace (Samson 2015). Despite, the company’s machine being the medium of storage, the e-mail account belonged to Fraser and going through it is a defilement of their duty to employees despite the fact that he was theoretically a sovereign employee. Literature Review Significantly, workforce diversity is among the important aspects of an organization in the 21st century with multiple developments and augmented attention given to the field. Consequently, multiple entrepreneurs and business professionals have varying HR theories on diversity in the workplace. Relatively, it refers to the different ways that vary in terms of gender, age, education, race, culture and religion; and how these different factors can affect a particular task, relationship and the behavior of the different staff members in an organization (Davis 2012). Apart from ethnicity and national origin, there are other personal demographics or factors of diversity like skills, knowledge, abilities, values, beliefs, attitudes, cognitive and behavioral style and others that are partly considered include; family connections, political favors and educational advantage. Typically, the case of Fraser v. Nationwide insurance falls in this category because the plaintiff was an independent contractor (John 2015). Notably, in an organization where a diverse workforce is encouraged the personal traits or personality of different members really matter since these traits and propensities are the ones that define the characteristics of a person and their behavior in a particular environment. These personality factors are very important in the organizational surroundings but with discrimination and other anarchic acts against diverse employees, the organization fails in exploitation of the benefits that come with diversity (Joshua 2011). Moreover, it acts as a hindrance for its success and meeting its objectives, and affects the employees work output. The organization theories of diversity focus on mechanisms to apply in getting the best out of diverse populations by focusing on its advantages and disadvantages, especially on a global scale. However, most of its attention is on ethnic background, experience, culture and age, factors that also apply in human resource practices. Most companies apply the organization theories as part of their productivity strategies but very few apply it as a way of countering challenges. Decisively, it is a good approach to novelty and effectiveness as a foundation for achieving organization goals especially with the scientific management, organizational culture and communication sub-sections (Mercy 2012). All the same, the needs hierarchy sub-section can best apply in countering diversity challenges such as those experienced by Richard Fraser in the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company case. However, most people apply theories of motivation to tackle the sector of employee needs; however, most of the needs that companies and leaders address are beneficial to them or the company. For instance, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company decided to cancel Fraser’s contract because of his communication with a competing company yet he never violated any organizational policies and laws. Naturally, every company needs security and stability, which mostly rely on employee satisfaction and contentment with the working place and its conditions. However, these two aspects face many challenges in a diverse population and human resources departments are in charge of most aspects affecting the employees including privacy. Nonetheless, like in the case of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, the HR departments overlook essential aspects of diversity in an organization by siding with company leaders instead of the employees. Naturally, company leaders might not be aware of acts that affect the organization’s stature on productivity through diversity but it is the work of HR officials to make it known why retrieving Fraser’s store e-mails is a form of violation (MOM 2012). Diversity needs come in varying contexts but sometimes the company has to use the necessary force to ensure that employees follow the necessary practices in accordance to organizational culture, ethics or regulations set by boards such as the National Labor Relations Board in the cases in 2014. Richard Fraser, an independent agent, had the right to communicate with other companies hence the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company should have consulted him first on the matter before retrieving his stored e-mails (Samson 2015). However, the actions that led to the lawsuit can affect other employees by making them feel that their privacy is not a factor that the company respects. On the other hand, while working in the company, Fraser should have respected the fact that the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has competition rivals hence the communication should have taken place elsewhere outside his working premises. Resolutely, both parties have semi-rational arguments in the case but Fraser is in a disadvantageous position because the company and its leaders appear to be intimidating him through their hierarchical stature. However, even in the previous year employee privacy and rights have been questionable in several cases with the main one being the summary argument of the National Labor Relations Board. Recently, the NLRB nationalized the employer email systems by countering the idea that employees thought they would have some privacy through the e-mail systems. Today, according to the board employers have the right to accessing these systems when there is probable cause especially in similar cases like that of Richard Fraser. Obviously, this might seem as an invasion of privacy but the board justifies it as a way of protecting organization’s confidentiality; on the other hand, employees have knowledge on legal ways to use the e-mail systems without breaking any laws under a section of the NLRB’s regulations. Analysis Human resources management is one of the essential aspects of a business’ success; relatively, even in diversity the policies under effective management should revolve around employee influence, flow of resources and work systems that should form a basis for all practices (Janssen 2003). Essentially, the case on Fraser v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s verdict relies almost entirely on federal laws and regulations hence overlooking human resource policies. Critical evaluation of the summary judgment shows that Fraser, as an independent agent, had no right to communicate with competing companies. His rights to privacy and communication surface nowhere as necessary aspects of the case; in fact, the biggest factor on discussion is the issue of accessing stored e-mails and the specific time of accessing, during or after transmission. Sadly, the court leans more on the means and time that the e-mail that the insurance company retrieved; moreover, there was no review of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s policies on personnel management, especially on violation of employee privacy and rights. Agreeably, the court does not give the Richard Fraser’s contract with the insurance company much attention, especially since he was an independent agent; typically, the terms of agreement do not extensively focus on communication with competing companies, and if so, the contract does not indicate it as a rational reason for cancellation (Morgan 2014). Eventually, the court ruled against Fraser on his wrongful termination contentions overlooking his attempt to argue with the set policies about the act, which entirely support the fact that retrieving the e-mail did not have termination of the contract as one of the primal consequences. Moreover, Fraser based his arguments and allegations on federal laws and policies set by the company’s personnel management. However, most of the public policies seem to be void in the federal court and yet there is no evidence or arguments by the insurance company denying that their policies are against such communications. According to the case’s summary judgments, the public policy did not the necessary standards required by the courts to make an exception of Fraser’s termination showing that employee rights are not given the necessary attention. Moreover, it shows employer practices can apply in violating employee rights that are ‘narrow. The overall decision of the case affects practices of both the employee and the employer but most people would agree that most of the policies favor companies such as Nationwide Mutual. On the other hand, employee rights do not get the necessary attention and validity especially comparing to federal laws. Synthesis Significantly, diversity in the workplace attracts a lot of theories and strategies depending on factors such as the market, location, product or objective goals. However, despite of the multiple strategies that would apply in varying companies, employees’ practices and rights carry most of the weight but get the least attention (Ho 2007). Most people misconstrue the equality prevailing in an organization means that the employees get equal treatment; however, this is only the foundation of the equality, leaders and supervisors should not treat those below them in the hierarchy as minors. Any decisions that organizations such as Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company make should base entirely on set policies by the management and human resource teams. Essentially, diversity and equality go hand in hand hence neglecting one area definitely causes the failure of the other. The best strategic approaches is mainstreaming all challenges related to human resources to create a positive platform for progressive diversity policies; moreover, in order for it to be beneficial, managers, supervisors and other powerful personnel in the organization should avoid domestic competition and also respect the functions of the human resources. Decisively, the HRM initiatives set for an organization should focus entirely on what the employees require in helping the company become successful; moreover, the consequences set for the certain regulations should not have exaggerated depths like the case of Richard Fraser (Janssen 2003). This way, employees will not feeling as if they are subjects of wrongful terminations after violating organization policies; equally, the leaders in the company will not make irrational decisions based on emotions and other motives. Conclusion Assertively, research shows that today organizations are increasingly embracing the use of work groups as a strategy structure combination to facilitate the achieving of their objectives and goals; this strategy has predicate on flexibility, fast decision making and innovation in a teamwork setting. Organizations with diverse workforces supply a wider variety of solutions to challenges in service offering, sourcing and allocation of resources as staff members from diverse cultural backgrounds bring individual skills and experiences in suggesting different ways that are applicable and adaptable (Mercy 2012). However, multiple organizations and leaders do not relate with this because of discrimination and other defilement acts resulting from lack of knowledge on how to deal with diverse employees. Companies that hearten diversity among their staff should not only encourage highest performance for a higher productivity level, increased profit and a return on investment, but also advocate for practices and implementation of regulations and policies against discriminations and other forms of discernment. REFERENCES Alex, K. (2013) Fraser V. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company- Organizations Can Access Independent Contractor’s Email Accounts: National Association of Realtors, Retrieved on 10 February 2015, from http://www.realtor.org/legal-case-summaries/fraser-v-nationwide-mut-ins-co-company-can-access-independent-contractors-e-mail-account Davis, M., (2012) Influence of Personality Dimensions on Organizational Performance: International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2 (17), p.184 – 194 Ho, C. (2007). A Framework of the Foundation Theories Underlying the Relationship between Individuals Within a Diverse Workforce; Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 15(2), 75-91 Janssen, M. (2003) Theories of Diversity within Organization Studies- Debates and Future Trajectories: Social Science Research Network, Retrieved on 10 February 2015, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=389044 John, W. (2015) Fraser V. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company: Find Law for Legal Professions, Retrieved on 10 February 2015, from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-3rd-circuit/1061695.html Joshua, O., (2011) Impact of Workforce Diversity on Organizational Effectiveness: A Study of Nigerian Bank, 11(3), p. 93-110. Mercy, G., (2012) Workforce Diversity Management and Employee performance in the Banking Sector in Kenya: DBA Africa Management Review, 3 (1), p.1-21 Ministry of Manpower (MOM) (2010) Managing Workplace Diversity: A Toolkit for Organizations, 1(1), p. 3-8 Morgan, H. (2014) Fraser V. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Retrieved on 10 February 2015, http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/litigation_news/fraser-nationwide.authcheckdam.pdf Samson, M. (2015) Fraser V. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company: Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions, Retrieved on 10 February 2015, http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case280.cfm Read More